Topic
Disdrometer
About: Disdrometer is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 930 publications have been published within this topic receiving 23092 citations.
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TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of drop size distributions (DSDs) measured in four very different precipitation regimes is presented and is compared with polarimetric radar measurements, showing that significant DSD variability exists not only from one event to the next, but also within each system.
Abstract: An analysis of drop size distributions (DSDs) measured in four very different precipitation regimes is presented and is compared with polarimetric radar measurements. The DSDs are measured by a 2D video disdrometer, which is designed to measure drop size, shape, and fall speed with unprecedented accuracy. The observations indicate that significant DSD variability exists not only from one event to the next, but also within each system. Also, despite having vastly different storm structures and maximum rain rates, large raindrops with diameters greater than 5 mm occurred with each system. By comparing the occurrence of large drops with rainfall intensity, the authors find that the largest median diameters are not always associated with the heaviest rainfall, but are sometimes located either in advance of convective cores or, occasionally, in stratiform regions where rainfall rates are relatively low. Disdrometer and polarimetric radar measurements of radar reflectivity Z, differential reflectivity ...
91 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed composite algorithms to estimate rainfall from polarimetric radar data without an a priori assumption about the specific form of mean raindrop shape-size model such as equilibrium shape model.
Abstract: Polarization diversity radar measurements such as reflectivity factor, differential reflectivity, and differential propagation phase are extensively used in rainfall estimation. Algorithms to estimate rainfall from polarimetric radar measurements are based on a model for the raindrop shape as a function of drop diameter. Most of the current algorithms use an equilibrium shape‐size model for raindrops. Variation of the prevailing mean raindrop shapes from an assumed model has a direct impact on the accuracy of radar rainfall estimates. This paper develops composite algorithms to estimate rainfall from polarimetric radar data without an a priori assumption about the specific form of mean raindrop shape‐size model such as equilibrium shape model. The accuracy of rainfall estimates is evaluated in the presence of random measurement errors as well as systematic bias errors. The composite algorithms, independent of a prespecified raindrop shape model, were applied to radar parameters simulated from disdrometer data collected over 3 months, and the corresponding rainfall estimates were found to be in good agreement with disdrometer estimates. The composite algorithms were also tested with Colorado State University CHILL radar observations of the 28 July 1997 Fort Collins (Colorado) flood event. The storm total precipitation estimates based on the composite algorithms developed in this paper were in much better agreement with rain gauge estimates in comparison with conventional algorithms.
91 citations
TL;DR: Raindrop shapes from laboratory, field and model investigations are examined in order to distill a consistent picture of raindrop axis ratios as a function of size as mentioned in this paper, which is consistent with laboratory and field measurements.
90 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the procedures used to measure and compute the kinetic energy and various other rainfall characteristics as well as the concurrent splash erosion rates in a recently terraced forest plantation in Soutelo, north-central Portugal, from May to September 2007 were described.
90 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the spatial variability of rain drop size distribution (RDSD) at kilometer scale was measured using eight dual instruments (16 Parsivel disdrometers) from October 2009 to January 2010 and the results provided an estimate of the variability range at spatial scales relevant for spatial radars such as TRMM-PR and GPM-DPR.
Abstract: [1] This paper reports on the results of an experiment designed to measure the spatial variability of rain drop size distribution (RDSD) at kilometer scale. Eight dual instruments (16 Parsivel disdrometers) were used to record the RDSD from October 2009 to January 2010. The spatial variability of the RDSD in terms of cross-correlation and changes in the reflectivity-rainfall (Z–R) relationship was calculated. The results provide an estimate of the variability range at spatial scales relevant for spatial radars such as TRMM-PR and GPM-DPR. It was found that the spatial variability of the RDSD in a single episode can exceed the inter-episode variability. This implies that estimates of the RDSD using a few disdrometers are not enough to capture the evolution of the RDSD, and that more detailed areal estimates are needed in order to fully analyze the RDSD.
90 citations